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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Lawmaker chided for broadcasting legislative committee meeting

To tune in: Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones' Web casts can be viewed at www.civicplaza.net/house.php

By Dan Boyd
Journal Capitol Bureau
      SANTA FE — An Albuquerque lawmaker was criticized for “grandstanding” Monday and knowingly subverting the rules of the House of Representatives.
       Her offense?
       Broadcasting a legislative committee meeting into cyber space via Web cam that she supplied and installed in the committee room at the Capitol.
       But Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, isn't backing down after her self-described act of civil disobedience brought more than a touch of drama to the legislative session's first meeting of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee.
       “My constituents have really been pushing for this,” Arnold-Jones said. “Sometimes you have to do what's right for the citizens.”
       The only way to observe a legislative meeting now is to go to the Capitol in Santa Fe and attend.
       Arnold-Jones' Web cast — which had attracted 133 visitors, including one from the United Kingdom, as of Monday afternoon — wasn't an act of disrespect to Taxation and Revenue Committee Chairman Edward Sandoval, D-Albuquerque, or other legislative leaders, the lawmaker said.
       But it was certainly taken as such. House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, blasted Arnold-Jones after she refused to take down the Web cam.
       “We all recognize the technology has come forward ... but we have rules in place,” said Lujan, a tax committee member who was present for the meeting Monday and described Arnold-Jones' act as “unfortunate and a little surprising.”
       Lujan later clarified his comments to the Journal, saying the fact Arnold-Jones only alerted media, and not other lawmakers, to her plan to broadcast committee meetings was what bothered him.
       “I don't think that's what we should be doing here,” he said.
       Arnold-Jones, however, felt she had no other choice.
       “There comes a point when you can no longer ask permission,” she said. “If I had asked, they would have said no.”
       Broadcasting legislative proceedings online has been a topic of discussion for the New Mexico Legislature. The Senate last year purchased Web cameras, but it has held off on launching them this year because of fiscal concerns.
       The House rules committee is scheduled to discuss Web casting this morning.
       

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To tune in